Chris Harrison Says Clare Crawley’s Season Will Undoubtedly Be About Coronavirus

One of the many problems with social distancing during the coronavirus is that most people’s lives have come to a near halt. There’s no fun new dating story to share, no crazy office drama to unpack. Yes, we can talk about Netflix’s The Tiger King (and honestly, thank God) but what’s on most of our minds is the coronavirus pandemic that put us in this position in the first place. According to Chris Harrison, the upcoming season of The Bachelorette will also be very coronavirus focused — because really, what else would these people have to talk about? 

“When we shoot Clare’s season, it’s going to be indicative of what’s happening in the world,” host Harrison explained to People of Crawley’s yet-to-be-filmed season. “Obviously there will be talks of the pandemic and, ‘What were you doing quarantining and who were you with?’ Those are going to be the conversations that we’re going to embrace.”

Harrison added that he hopes in 20 years, people will look back on this season of The Bachelorette as a sort of time capsule:

“[When] you watch Clare’s season, 20 years from now, you’re going to think, ‘What? What were these people doing? Why did they not hug? Why were they scared to embrace?’ And that’s kind of the beauty of this show is it always embraces what’s happening in the real world,” he told the outlet. 

In the early days of the spread of the coronavirus, Crawley’s season was set to film under certain restrictions, such as no international travel. Later, however, calls for social distancing made filming of The Bachelorette impossible at this juncture. In addition, spin-off series The Bachelor Summer Games was officially cancelled. 

The good news is that Crawley will still be the next Bachelorette (even though when is so far unclear.) She already has one advantage now that she’s social distancing: She can Google all the contestants, something she wouldn’t have been able to do if she was stuck in the Bachelorette mansion. Given that some problematic contestants have previously slipped through the cracks, this may be just the thing Crawley needs to ensure her quest for love plays out exactly how she wants it.